Rights Of Egyptian Women
Throughout written history, women have experienced status subservient to
the men they lived with. Generally, most cultures known to modern historians
followed a standard pattern of males assigned the role of protector and provider
while women were assigned roles of domestic servitude. Scholars speculate
endlessly at the cause: biology, religion, social custom. Nevertheless, the
women were always subordinated to the men in their culture. Through their
artwork, tomb inscriptions, and papyrus and leather scrolls, preserved in the
dry, desert air, Ancient Egyptians left evidence for scholars suggesting that
Egypt was once a peculiar exception to this pattern. Anthropological ...
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as a witness before a court of law.
Surviving court documents not only showed that women were free to take action
with the court, but the documents also show that they frequently won their cases.
They could also enter contracts and travel freely, unescorted, throughout the
state. This is a great contrast to women in Greece, who were required to act
through a male representative. Interestingly, property and its administration
was passed from mother to daughter, matrilineally. The Egyptians relied on
matrilineal heritage, based on the assumption that maternal ancestors are less
disputable than paternal ones. The effect of legal equality in writing and
practice coupled with the ownership and administration of property led to an
ensured equality.
The rights and egalitarian conditions enjoyed by Egyptian women shocked
the conquering Greeks. In 450 BC, Greek historian Herodotus noted:
They Egyptians, in their manners and customs, seem to have reversed the
ordinary practices of ...
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were monogamous and
women had the right to arrange the terms of the marriage contract.
Realistically, marriages were not polygamous. Many records survive of men
raising children born to them of the household servants. Social stigma against
married men having affairs was mild, yet married women were socially obligated
to be faithful to their husbands. Unlike most societies, however, men having
sex with married women were persecuted more severely than their partners.
Egyptian Art tells us the primarily of the women in the upper castes.
Grave murals and reliefs depict wives standing next to their husbands.
Archaeologist have yet to discover any evidence of domestic ...
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Rights Of Egyptian Women. (2005, May 1). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Rights-Of-Egyptian-Women/26232
"Rights Of Egyptian Women." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 1 May. 2005. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Rights-Of-Egyptian-Women/26232>
"Rights Of Egyptian Women." Essayworld.com. May 1, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Rights-Of-Egyptian-Women/26232.
"Rights Of Egyptian Women." Essayworld.com. May 1, 2005. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Rights-Of-Egyptian-Women/26232.
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